A Complete Guide to Reading and Writing

the Deseret Alphabet

By
Neil Alexander Walker

Copyright 2005 Neil Alexander Walker

CONTENTS
Preface

1 An Alphabet is Born
1.1 Background

11

1.2 Birth of the Deseret Alphabet

13

2 The Structure of the Deseret Alphabet

2.1 The Sounds of English

15

2.1.1 The International Phonetic Alphabet

17

2.1.2 Practical Phonetic System

19

2.1.3 Distinction between /
/ and //

20

2.2 Deseret Alphabet Spelling Conventions

24

2.2.1 Deseret Letter Syllabic Values

25

2.2.2 Distinction between *, a and $

26

2.2.3 Distribution of // // /
/ and //

in American and British English

28

2.2.4 Distinction between // and //

30

2.2.5 Deseret Representation of //

32

2.2.6 Rhotic and Non-Rhotic English

33

2.2.7 British // and American //

34

2.2.8 British // and American //

35

2.2.9 Distinguishing // // and /ei/ before //

36

2.2.10 Distinguishing /ju/ and /u/ after Coronal Consonants

37

2.2.11 Distinguishing /
/ and /o/ before //

38

3 Deseret Alphabet Workbook

3.1 About this Chapter

39

3.1.1 Using this Workbook

39

3.2 Deseret Alphabet Exercises

40

3.2.1 k, t, p, @ and *

40

3.2.2 g, d, b, i and $

41

3.2.3 >, n, m, ` and u

42

3.2.4 c, s, ;, f, e and =

43

3.2.5 j, z, \, v, & and o

44

3.2.6 l, q, h, - and [

45

3.2.7 y, x, r, w, a and ]

46

3.2.8 Digraphs hw, -r, `r, *@ and @u

47

3.3 Book of Mormon Reading Exercise

48

4 Archaic and Alternate Deseret Characters

4.1 Early Forms of Deseret Letters

51

4.1.1 Symbol for //

52

4.2 Cursive Deseret Script

52

5 The Modern Deseret Alphabet

5.1 Revival of Deseret Alphabet

53

5.1.1 Objectives

54

5.1.2 How to Use this Chapter

54

5.2 Structure of the Modern Deseret Alphabet

4

55

5.2.1 The Letter * in the Modern Deseret Alphabet

56

5.2.2 The Names of the Letters

56

5.2.3 The Modern Deseret Alphabet Representation of /
i/

56

5.2.4 Representation of // in the Modern Deseret Alphabet

57

5.2.5 The Digraph hw

57

5.2.6 Distinguishing $ and a in Modern Deseret Spellings

57

5.3 The Exercises

58

Appendix I: An 1869 Deseret-Roman Spelling Wordlist

71

Appendix II: Deseret Alphabet Resources

75

Key to the Exercises

77

Notes

83

PREFACE
When I was sixteen years old, my family traveled to Portland, Oregon to visit my Great
Uncle Ted. While in Portland, I purchased Akira Nakanishis book Writing Systems of the
World: Alphabets, Syllabaries, Pictograms.1 The book became a constant companion for
me throughout the rest of the trip. Upon return to our home in California, I read the book
more closely. On page 110, toward the end of the book, I found the following entry:

#f wi r[z -rl@ @n \ m$rn@>, w

r[z. Hi r[z`z @n \ Ist. #n \
s-n-r[z, \ b-rdz big@n tu s@>
&nd b=q`z: \e sim v`r@ g &nd c
s-n @z k-m@> tu q[n -p*n \`m.
warm rez *n \ -r;. Hi q[nz
&nd -p*n \ pl&nts, &nd g@vz \`m
\er b@ut@.
MORMON SCRIPT. The writing of Mormonism
in North America. From the 19th century. (Authors
collection)

I was shocked. I had been born and raised LDS, how could there be a Mormon script
without my having heard of it? I brought the book with me to church the following
Sunday and asked my teachers if they knew anything about the enigmatic symbols. Not
one of them had heard of a Mormon Script before. I decided to set the mystery aside
and moved the questions to the back of my mind. In the meantime, I studied several of
the worlds writing systems including Arabic, Hebrew, Khmer and Georgian.
Shortly after beginning college, I obtained a copy of The Blackwell Encyclopedia
of Writing Systems by Florian Coulmas.2 On page 347 I found the following

(mis)information above a chart which ostensibly gave the sound values of these
mysterious symbols:

Mormon alphabet A script created in the 1830s for English by Joseph

Smith (1805-44), founder of the Mormon sect, who claimed that it was
revealed to him in 1823 on golden plates by an angel. The characters are
arbitrarily designed, although some of them resemble alphabetic letters
(table 22). The script represents an attempt at designing a writing system
for English which approximates a one-to-one mapping relation between
sounds and symbols independent of traditional orthography.

The symbols in the chart were hand-drawn and the phonetic symbols used next to them as
a key did not correspond to any accepted system3. No source was cited for the table. In
other words, the entry was useless. When I tried to use the chart to decode the sample in
Nakanishis book, I found almost no correspondence between the two. It would be years
before I learned that the scripts true name was the Deseret Alphabet and that Brigham
Young had commissioned it the decade after Joseph Smiths death (and it therefore had
absolutely nothing to do with visions or gold plates).
About three years after returning from a mission to England, I began studying
linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. While there, I took advantage of
the Bancroft library and its superb collection of early Mormon books. I will never forget
the first time I held the 1869 Deseret Alphabet Book of Mormon. The book was made of
fine materials and truly beautiful. As I leaved through page after page of strange

characters, it struck me how much effort must have been put forth in transcribing the
entire Book of Mormon text into this new script and how expensive the whole endeavor
must have been for a struggling religious community. I left the experience determined to
learn to read and understand the Deseret Alphabet. This book is the product of that
experience.

The Purpose of this Book

This book provides all the information a student will need in order to read the classic
1869 version of the Deseret Alphabet properly and to write with it today. It also intends
to dispel misinformation about the Deseret Alphabets origin and purpose. The first
chapter gives a brief overview of the origins and purpose of this peculiar Mormon script.
Chapter 2 explains the reasons behind the standardized 1869 Deseret spellings and spares
no details in introducing the English sound system. Chapter 3 is a complete internal
workbook which reintroduces the letters and structure of the 1869 Deseret Alphabet
spellings in a hands-on manner. Chapter 4 briefly introduces archaic alternate characters
for advanced study. Chapter 5 gives guidelines for using the Deseret script today and
proposes resurrecting the alphabet.
The more time I spend studying the Deseret Alphabet, the more I am struck by its
hidden beauty and great potential. The ultimate purpose of this book is to share that
feeling with the world.

What this Book is Not

This book does not pretend to give a detailed history of the origin and demise of the
nineteenth-century Deseret Alphabet. Kenneth R. Beesley has already written about that
in The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode.4 The history of the Deseret Alphabet deserves to be
written and I look forward to seeing a full account of this remarkable script published in
book form. However, I will not be the one to write such a book, as my skills are in
linguistics and are not those of a historian.

Using this Book

The student needs to narrow down his goals prior to using this book. If the desire is to
read the Deseret Alphabet for research purposes, then the first three chapters are all that is
needed. Furthermore, the student who is not familiar with linguistics can skim over
chapter 2 and go straight to chapter 3 for the quickest route to Deseret reading
competency. If that course is chosen, chapter 2 should be used as a reference to chapter 3
in the event that certain spellings do not make sense. If the student desires to read and
compose modern Deseret Alphabet documents, and to do it properly, he should focus on
chapters 5 while referring back to chapter 2 for clarifications on English sounds.
I sincerely hope this work will inspire a new generation and help them to respect
and cherish this amazing script given us by our forefathers.

10

CHAPTER 1
An Alphabet is Born
1.1 Background
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was founded in New York state on April
6, 1830 by the Prophet Joseph Smith. As a youth, Joseph had seen a vision of God the
Father and Jesus Christ wherein he was told not to join any other church. Later, as a
young man, he was visited by an angel named Moroni who told him of an ancient record
on plates of gold hidden in the hill Cumorah. The record, he was told, contained an
account of extinguished peoples who once inhabited the New World and their dealings
with God. Years after this experience, Joseph Smith was allowed to go to the hill
Cumorah and obtain the plates of gold. The Prophet labored for weeks and translated the
record by the gift and power of God. The translation, published in Palmyra, New York in
1830, was entitled The Book of Mormon.
The remarkable story of Joseph Smith and his strange new book of scripture
attracted a great deal of interest and many converts. They also attracted enemies. By the
1840s, Joseph Smith and the members of the church he had founded had been driven
across the American states of New York, Ohio, and Missouri to the swampy shores of the
Mississippi in Illinois.
Along the great river, the Mormons, as the members of the Church had come to
be known because of their belief in the Book of Mormon, erected a city of brick and
stone they named Nauvoo (based on a Hebrew word meaning beautiful). Nauvoo had a
population of thousands and became one of the most important cities in Illinois. The
Mormons built a beautiful temple of carved stone atop a hill and had farms and

11

businesses. The Prophets beautiful city was not to last. Angry and jealous neighbors
organized themselves into mobs and began to attack the Mormons. Eventually, Joseph
Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were brutally killed in Carthage jail while awaiting trial on
false charges. With the prophets death, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
was expected to dissolve.1
Rather than dissolve, the church continued to grow. Before his martyrdom, the
Prophet had organized a quorum of twelve apostles. Brigham Young was the president of
this quorum and took control of the church. President Young realized that its persecutors
would not allow the church to continue in Illinois or anywhere frequented by others. He
led the main body of the church on a long and difficult journey of over 1,000 miles across
the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Great Basin in what is now Salt Lake
City, Utah. Once established, Brigham Young sent groups of Mormon settlers throughout
the west to strengthen the churchs presence in the region. Eventually, President Young
would personally order the establishment of more than 350 settlements from San
Bernardino, California to Idaho.2
The LDS settlements were organized according to a pattern first set out by the
Prophet Joseph Smith. Each town was to have streets laid out in a grid with a space set
aside for a temple in the center. The Mormons supported themselves in the arid lands
through the use of irrigation and hard work.3
At first, this collection of desert lands and small Mormon settlements was named
the Territory of Deseret. President Young ruled Deseret as something of a theocracy for a
time before congress rejected it as a territory and created the smaller territory of Utah
(with Young as governor).4

12

1.2 Birth of the Deseret Alphabet

It was amid this unique social experiment that Brigham Young and his closest associates
decided to create and promulgate a new alphabet for English. George D. Watt, the first
English convert to the LDS church, had been a student of Pitman shorthand in his native
England. He thus had a good understanding of the individual sounds (the phonemes) of
spoken English. President Young chose him together with other leading churchmen to
design a completely new alphabet for English which would have a letter for every single
sound of the language. The alphabet went through many versions and revisions between
1854 and its eventual abandonment in the 1870s.5 The total number of letters changed as
did their shape. At first, the so-called short vowels were to be smaller than the other
letters. Early examples of the Deseret Alphabet show it to be very fluid and appropriate
for cursive script. Eventually, the Regents of the University of Deseret (now the
University of Utah), who were responsible for promulgating the script, created a standard
version with 38 letters. This version was used in four books: two reading primers (The
Deseret First Book and The Deseret Second Book), a selection from the Book of Mormon
(The Book of Nephi) and The Book of Mormon in its entirety. In addition to the four
printed books, less polished versions of the alphabet were used on some gravestones,
store signs, a gold coin issued by Young for use in the territory, in over 70 newspaper
articles in the Deseret News (mainly scripture quotations) and in numerous personal
journals (including a journal from a mission to the Hopi Indians).6
Contrary to the assumptions of outside critics, who have claimed that this
alphabet was intended to cloak LDS writings from Gentile view and further isolate the
Mormons in their mountain retreats, the Deseret Alphabet was intended solely to ease the

13

burden imposed upon students learning to read and write English.7 Thousands of new
converts were pouring into Deseret for whom English was a new language. A new
alphabet with better sound to symbol correspondence could only help these new members
learn the English language.
Observers at the time recognized that the new alphabet was in the same tradition
as those of Pitman in England. Far from being an attempt to hide things, every
appearance of the alphabet in print came with an accompanying table of letter values for
all to see. Unfortunately, the members of the LDS church never fully accepted the new
alphabet. Reasons given for the alphabets failure include the oppressive cost of
reprinting extant literature into a new script for an impoverished people and the
esthetically poor shapes of the letters. In particular, the final version of the Deseret
Alphabet has been criticized for lacking ascenders and descenders (letters which rise
above or fall below the line like b and p). By the time of Brigham Youngs death in 1877,
the Deseret Alphabet had been abandoned.8
All told, the LDS church spent thousands of dollars (at 19th century prices) and
man-hours trying to create and implement a new alphabet. Nevertheless, a new alphabet
was created. The script has survived despite its failure as a practical medium of written
communication. Brigham Youngs Deseret Alphabet exists in the 21st century mainly as a
historic curiosity for descendants of early Mormon pioneers and language aficionados.
Recently the script has been included in Unicode and some internet sites. Interest in the
script continues today and might be greater now than when it was actually in use in the
nineteenth century.9

14

CHAPTER 2
The Structure of the Deseret Alphabet
2.1 The Sounds of English
There have been occasional attempts to make use of the Deseret Alphabet in recent years.
The efforts, though commendable, have suffered from a complete misunderstanding of
the scripts structure. Part of the problem stems from the poor fit between sound and
symbol in current English spelling which many would-be Deseret Alphabet users transfer
to the script. The largest source of difficulty; however, comes from ignorance of different
types of English pronunciation. In order to understand how to read and write in the
Deseret alphabet one must pay very close attention to the information given about
pronunciation differences.
Beyond these considerations, the Deseret Alphabet did not differ drastically in its
premise from traditional English orthography. Both systems attempt to represent
individual phonemes (speech sounds) with individual letters. The Deseret Alphabet
comes much closer to this ideal than traditional English orthography which has far fewer
letters than there are English sounds.
For example, in English there is a single sound, /k/ (letters between slashes
indicate phonemes), which is represented by the letters c, k q, ck, ch, kk and kh in
traditional English spelling, as in the words cot, kid, quick, school, trekker and khaki.
This state of confusion holds true for most English sounds. A related problem is the
existence of multiple sound correspondences for one letter. For example, the digraph
(two-letter combination) ch can be sounded in at least four ways as in church, chorus,
champagne and yacht. As a result of this convoluted fit between sound and symbol, an

15

English schoolchild must learn that /k/ can be spelled in no less than seven ways, five of
them quite common, and that the letters ch can represent at least for sounds (or lack of
sound). In stark contrast to the confusing situation of traditional English spelling, the
Deseret Alphabet uses only one letter for the /k/ sound and has no letter with multiple
sounds attached to it.
It is necessary to learn something about the articulation of English sounds and
how they differ from speaker to speaker over time in order to understand classic Deseret
spellings like those used in the Deseret Alphabet edition of the Book of Mormon.
English, like all languages, is communicated through the arrangement of various
individual sounds into various combinations to form words. All languages, including
English, have a finite number of distinct sounds.
Standard English has around forty distinct sounds depending on the accent. Some
varieties of English have more distinct sounds than others. American English, as spoken
in the Southeast and Northeast of the United States, has more distinct sounds than
Canadian and Western American English. Because the creators and promulgators of the
Deseret Alphabet were from the Northeast, they chose a standard pronunciation very
different from what one now finds in Utah and other western states. This has made it
difficult for Utahans and other Westerners interested in the Deseret Alphabet to use and
understand the script correctly. To avoid further confusion, and to aid in teaching the
relationship of English sounds to one another, the International Phonetic Alphabet will be
used in describing the sounds of English as represented by the Deseret Alphabet
throughout this book.

16

2.1.1 The International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (hereafter IPA) is a set of symbols used by the
majority of linguists to represent every sound of the worlds languages. Each symbol
represents a single sound and each sound is represented by a single symbol (or digraph).
It is customary to enclose phonemes (distinct sounds) in / /. (Phonetic transcriptions are
enclosed in [ ], but this is beyond the scope of this book.)
Table 1 lists all of the sounds of English using the IPA and example words written
in regular orthography. It is important to notice that how words are spoken and how they
are written differ wildly in regular English. Do not be too worried about memorizing all
of these new symbols. All that matters is that the concept of one symbol for one sound be
mastered. The examples below can always be consulted, but they are of no use if their
premise is misunderstood.
As can be seen from Table 1, the symbols of the IPA differ somewhat in their values
from the letters of the regular English alphabet. Notice, for instance, that the IPA /i/
sounds like ee as in see not as in sit. Also, it is important to notice new symbols
representing sounds for which English currently has no letters. For example, the IPA uses
the symbol /
/ for the sound spelled th in English in words like thigh, thin, ether, author,
teeth, sheath. This is a single sound, not a combination of two different sounds. English
th actually represents another sound as well. Say the words thy, then, either, other,
teethe, sheathe aloud and then read the first set of words given as examples for /
/. The

17

Table 1: English phonemes using the IPA

IPA SYMBOL

TRADITIONAL LETTERS USED

EXAMPLE WORD

/h/

H, h, wh

Help, ahead, who

/g/

G, g

Go, big

/k/
/
/

K, k, C, c, ck, ch, kk, kh, Q, q, qu

ng, n

Kid, chaos, kick, mosquito, khaki

singer, thing, finger

/j/

Y, y

You, lawyer

/d/

J,j G, g, dge, du

Judge, gem, procedure

/ /

Sh, sh, Ch, ch, sch, ti, si

Ship, chic, Schuller, nation, mansion

//

J, j, G, g, si, zi, zh, ge

Jacques, genre, vision, Frazier, beige

/t/

T, t, tw

Too, to, two

/n/

N, n, kn, gn

No, new, knew, gnu

/t/

/d/
/s/

/z/

Ch, ch, tch, tu, tsch

Church, witch, nature, Deutsch

D, d

Do, dog

S, s, ss, C, ce, z

Source, sissy, citizen

Z, z, X, x, s

Zoo, Xerox, rise

//

R, r, l

/l/

L, l

Lull

//

Th, th, the

Thy, breathe

/p/

P, p

Pop

/m/

M, m

Mum

/ /

/b/
/f/

/v/

/hw/
/w/
/i/
/ /

/ei/
/
/

/ /

Rare, colonel

Th, th, chth, gh

Thigh, breath, chthonic, Keighley

B, b

Bob

F, f, ff, Ph, ph, gh, Pf

V, v, f

Wh, wh

Fifth, stiff, phone, enough, Pfeiffer

Very, brave, of
What, awhile

W, w, o

E, e, ee, ea, ei, ie, i, y

I, i

A, a, ai, ay, ey, eig,

Want, away, one

E, be, see, leaf, thief

It, hit

A, ate, faith, hay, they, reign

E, e, ea, a, ai

Ed, met, death, many, again

A, a, al

At, hat, salmon

/ai/

I, i, y, ye

I, ice, thy, dye

/ /

A, a, aw, au, augh, ough, o

All, want, saw, thought, caught, or

/o/

O, o, oa, oe, ow

O, go, oat, roe, mow, more

/u/

oo, o

too, to

/ /

/ /

O, o, a,

Odd, hot, what, far

u, oo

put, soot

//

U, u

Under, fun

/a/

Ou, ou, ow

Out, foul, now

//

A,a, e, i, o, u

About, sofa, enough, rectify, reunion

/i/

Oi, oi, oy

Oil, coin, toy

18

second set of words, though spelled with th just like the first, actually contains a different
sound represented in the IPA with the symbol //. These two English phonemes, /
/ and
//, are both pronounced by placing the tip of the tongue between the teeth. They differ
only in one respect; the phoneme /
/ is voiceless whereas // is voiced. Voiceless sounds
articulated with the vocal folds drawn close together. When the vocal folds are apart, the
resultant sound is hissed or whispered. When the folds are drawn together, it creates
something of a buzzing sound. Say breath and breathe aloud. Notice how the th in
breath sounds hushed compared to the th in breathe. The th in breath is voiceless and
the th in breathe is voiced. In the IPA, these two words could be written as /br
/ and
/bri/. This same relationship, that of voiceless to voiced consonant, is also true of the
pairs /f/ f and /v/ v, /p/ p and /b/ b, /s/ s and /z/ z, /t/ t and /d/ d, /t/ ch and /d / j, // sh
and / / zh (as in vision), /k/ k and /
/ g. Each of these pairs is articulated at the same point
in the mouth in the same manner save for the position of the vocal folds. The concept of
voiced versus voiceless consonants is not critical to understanding the Deseret Alphabet;
however, it does play a small role in the canonical ordering of the script.

2.1.2 Practical Phonetic System

It is not necessary to learn the IPA in order to learn the Deseret Alphabet; however, it is
necessary to learn to distinguish between each sound of English. Henceforth the IPA,
together with a less accurate but more familiar practical system, will be used to explain
the sounds of English as represented by the Deseret Alphabet. Table 2 displays the
equivalencies between the IPA and the practical system.

19

Table 2: IPA and its equivalents in the practical system

h

t

ng

ch

sh

zh

th

dh

hw

ei

ai

a!

i

wh

ee

ih

ey

eh

ie

ah

aw

oh

OO

oo

ou

uh

oy

Table 3 lists twenty-four English words in traditional orthography, the IPA and
the practical system. One should at least learn the practical system (and how to refer back
to its IPA equivalents) before moving on to descriptions of the Deseret Alphabet.

Table 3: English words in regular spelling, IPA and the practical system
1. head /hd/ hehd

2. king /k/ kihng

3. gone /
n/ gawn

4. you /ju/ yoo

5. cheap /tip/ cheep

6. job /d b/ jahb

7. show /o/ shoh

8. beige /bei / beyzh

9. rise /aiz/ riez

10. thick /
k/ thihk

11. them /m/ dhehm

12. why /hwai/ whie

13. eat /it/ eet

14. fit /ft/ fiht

15. faith /fei
/ feyth

16. left /lft/ lehft

17. cat /kt/ kat

18. not /nt/ naht

19. nought /nt/ nawt

20. vote /vot/ voht

21. food /fud/ food

22. foot /f"t/ fOOt

23. son /s$n/ sun

24. sofa /sof%/ sofuh

2.1.3 Distinction between /
/ and //

At this point, some readers might be feeling overwhelmed by the variety of new symbols.
Additionally, some might not recognize the distinctions that have been drawn between
certain sounds. Due to dialectal differences, and the inadequacies of conventional English
spelling, many English speakers are unaware of the sounds of (so-called) Standard
20

American English. Table 3 lists a pair of words, not and nought, which are pronounced
differently in Standard American English (as spoken by newscasters, southerners and
many in the northeast) but sounded the same in Canada and most of the American west.
The vowel sound in not is represented by // (ah in the practical system) whereas the
vowel sound in nought is represented by // (aw in the practical system). For speakers
from Utah and elsewhere in the West (as well as many other states), these words sound
the same; however, for the majority of English speakers in the world these two vowel
sounds are as different as the /i/ ee and /ei/ ey in see and they.1 The Deseret Alphabet had
a separate letter for each of these two vowels and both vowels were consistently
distinguished in the books printed in Deseret characters. Table 4 gives examples of words
with both // ah and // aw. Speakers who are not familiar with this sound contrast should
pay special attention.

Table 4: // ah versus /
/ aw

Words with // ah

Words with /
/ aw

Hot /ht/ haht

Hall /hl/ hawl

Not /nt/ naht

Nought /nt/ nawt

Lot /lt/ laht

Laud /ld/ lawd

Rock /k/ rahk

Raw // raw

Wok /wk/ wahk

Walk /wk/ wawk

Sock /sk/ sahk

Saw /s/ saw

Tot /tt/ taht

Taught /tt/ tawt

Hop /hp/ hahp

Hawk /hk/ hawk

21

Finally, before introducing each letter of the Deseret Alphabet and its sound
value, try to complete the two exercises below. Exercise 1 focuses on IPA understanding.
Only the IPA symbols and values used in this book are used. Exercise 2 deals with the
practical system already introduced. Both exercises are designed to teach a beginning
student with no background in linguistics how to segment the sounds of English. It is
vital that the learner become familiar with at least one system before moving on to the
description of the Deseret Alphabet.

Exercise 1: IPA practice

Try to read the words written in IPA then rewrite them in standard English spelling. Refer
back to Table 1 if in doubt about a symbol. Remember, it is better to learn slowly and
accurately than to rush through without understanding the material!
Example:
/ft/ fat
/
t/ thought
1. /hlp/

________

2. /kt/

________

3. /
n/

________

4. /s/

________

5. /juz/

________

6. /tip/

________

7. /tp/

________

8. /d $d /

________

9. /p/

________

10. /f/

________

11. /ei %n/

________

12. /v %n/

________

13. /tu/

________

14. /dd/

________

15. /nain/

________

16. /st/

________

17. /zp/

________

18. /lk/

________

19. /t/

________

20. /t/

________

21. /
ai/

________

22. /b
/

________

23. /ai/

________

24. /
/

________

25. /pk/

________

26. /b/

________

27. /mn/

________

28. /fl/

________

29. /vt/

________

30. /hwn/

________

22

Exercise 2: Practical System practice

Write the following English words in the practical system. Remember, if in doubt, to
refer back to the previous examples.
Example:
talk tawk
block blahk
1. hat

________

2. kick

________

3. God

________

4. long

________

5. ewe

________

6. chip

________

7. jab

________

8. shoot

________

9. vision

________

10. two

________

11. dough

________

12. knight

________

13. night

________

14. sock

________

15. zip

________

16. rope

________

17. load

________

18. thumb

________

19. that

________

20. death

________

21. seethe

________

22. smooth

________

23. path

________

24. breathe

________

25. moth

________

26. witch

________

27. which

________

28. fight

________

29. of

________

30. caught

________

31. leaf

________

32. say

________

33. far

________

34. saw

________

35. so

________

36. to

________

37. sit

________

38. met

________

39. that

________

40. not

________

41. son

________

42. book

________

43. kite

________

44. cow

________

45. coil

________

23

2.2 Deseret Alphabet Spelling Conventions

This section describes the structure of the Deseret Alphabet in its final, classic form as
used in the 1869 printing of the Book of Mormon. Table 5 gives all thirty-eight letters of
the Deseret Alphabet as used in 1869 together with their names and values in IPA and the
practical system. Each letter is numbered to show the correct order of the alphabet.2
Table 5: Deseret Alphabet with letter names in the IPA and practical system
Deseret Letters

IPA

Practical System

Deseret Letters

IPA

Name

Value

/i/

/i/

ee

/ti/

/ei/

/ei/

ey

ey

//

//

ah

ah

/ /

/ /

aw

/o/

/o/

/u/

/u/

1-18

Name

Value

Name

/t/

tee

Value

/di/

/d/

dee

/ti/

/t/

chee

ch

aw

/d
i/

/d
/

jee

oh

oh

/kei/

/k/

key

oo

oo

/ei/

//

gey

ee

19-38

Name

Value

Practical System

//

ih

/f/

/f/

ehf

//

eh

/vi/

/v/

vee

//

//

ehth

th

/i/

//

dhee

dh

/s/

/s/

ehs

OO

/zi/

/z/

zee

//

/
_

//

//
//

//

//

/ai/

/ai/

ie

ie

//

//

ehsh

sh

/a/

/a/

ou

ou

/
i/

/
/

zhee

zh

/wu/

/w/

woo

//

//

ur

/ji/

/j/

yee

/l/

/l/

ehl

/m/

/m/

ehm

/h/

/pi/

/p/

pee

/n/

/n/

ehn

/bi/

/b/

bee

<

/&/

/&/

ehng

ng

24

2.2.1 Deseret Letter Syllabic Values

Each letter of the Deseret Alphabet had a name except, perhaps, the short vowels @ ` * =
and the consonant h. Each consonant symbol had a specific name of one syllable. It is
very important to know the name of each consonant. When a consonant symbol appears
in isolation, it is to be read as its full name. Thus, the letter b stands for /b/ in
combination with other letters as in b@g /b
/ big. However, if b stands alone in a
sentence it is to be read with its full name as /bi/ bee as in b hir tun[t /bi hir tunait/ be
here tonight. In older versions of the Deseret Alphabet, this feature was true within words
as well. An 1860 gold piece minted by Brigham Young for distribution in the territory
had an inscription in the Deseret Alphabet which read hol@ns tu \ l$rd Holiness to the
Lord where the first word, Holiness, is spelled h-o-l-ih-n-(eh)s with the letter s being
read as /s/.3 Thankfully, the 1869 version only uses the names of the letters as their value
in monosyllabic words. In fact, only the letters a y b \ g, standing for the words a, ye,
be, the, gay are commonly used in the printed Deseret Alphabet books. Exercise 3 offers
practice.

25

Exercise 3: Deseret Alphabet Practice

Transcribe the following sentences from Deseret characters into traditional English
spelling. Keep an eye out for syllabic letter values!
Example: Me \@s b a g=d yir

May this be a good year

1. B y \erfor p-rf`kt.

____________________

2. P=t d]n \&t g-n!

____________________

3. A g b-rd s&> tu h@m.

____________________

4. { t`l \ \@s f$r \[n on g=d.

____________________

5. { told h@m qi w=d b let.

____________________

Write the following words using Deseret letters.

b

Example:

be

6. ye

__________

7. gay

__________

8. the

__________

9. a

__________

10. thee

__________

2.2.2 Distinction between *, a and $

A great deal of detail concerning English sounds has been omitted up to this point to ease
the burden of coping with too much new information. However, before going further, it is
necessary to delve deeper into the nuances of English sounds and dialectal differences.
Table 5 has one Deseret character which represents a sound that has not been mentioned
yet. This character, *, is represented as /'/ in the IPA and o in the practical system. This
sound is found in British pronunciations of the words not, got, Tom, off and what. It is not
26

a sound of Standard American English.4 In England, where this is a common sound, the
sole difference between the words pot, port and part is the nature of the vowel because //
is not pronounced after a vowel in British English. These three words, in an English
accent, can be written as /p't/, /pt/ and /pt/ in the IPA. In Standard American English,
the same three words can be written as /pt/, /prt/ and /prt/. The situation between /'/
and // is not the same as that between // and //. There is not a single word in American
English that has become homophonous with another because American English lacks the
sound /'/. This is true because, unlike in British English, American English speakers
pronounce // in all positions. Compare this to the situation with // where those dialects
of American English which have lost the sound now have a large number of
homophonous words.
In some dialects of American English, spoken in parts of New England and
Virginia, these three words, pot, port and part, could be written as /pt/, /pt/ and /pat/ in
the IPA. The creator of the Deseret Alphabet was an Englishman who no doubt sounded
the letter * as /'/. Nevertheless, the pronunciation style chosen was not an English one;
rather, it seems to have been based along the lines of a New England standard such as
would have been familiar to Brigham Young and Noah Webster. If this is the case, then
perhaps a and * would be more appropriately transcribed as /a/ and // rather than //
and /'/. In this book, however, the current American standard will be used.5
Table 6 gives example words containing these vowels together with their British,
Standard American and Western American (Utahan) pronunciations written in the IPA.

27

Table 6: Words with a, * and $ with IPA transcriptions

Deseret
Letters

British Accent

//

//

/ /

IPA Transcription of
cot, cart, caught, court
/kt/ /kt/
/kt/ /kt/*

Standard
American
Western
American
(Canadian)

//

//

/ /

/kt/ /kt/
/k t/ /k t/

//

//

//

/kt/ /kt/
/kt/ /k t/

* homophonous pairs are in bold

2.2.3 Distribution of // // /
/ and // in American and British English
As can be seen in Table 6, though British English has an extra vowel sound, Standard
American English is the only one without any homophonous pairs. In fact, were in not for
one other dialectal quirk, the creators of the Deseret Alphabet might not have bothered
with creating the letter * in the first place. Historically, the vowel in words like last, path
and ask had the same vowel as in lack, pat and at. In England, the vowel in these words
shifted to become like the sound in lark, part and art. In most of America, outside of
coastal Virginia and parts of New England, the older pronunciation remained. The
creators of the Deseret Alphabet were from England and New England. The speech style
they chose included the shift of // a to // ah in these words. Consequently, familiar
Book of Mormon phrases like and it came to pass are sounded out as and it came to
pahss. The same dialects that underwent this change also experienced another one. Words
like often, soft and lost were traditionally pronounced with an // aw vowel. In England,
these words have changed the vowel from // aw to /'/ o. In British English, because of
these changes, the only difference between the words last and lost is the distinction
28

between // ah and /'/ o. In American English, this distinction is unnecessary because
words like last retain the older // a vowel and words like lost retain the older // aw
vowel. Thus, solely because they chose a speech style which had undergone these
changes, the designers of the Deseret Alphabet were obliged to include the letter * in
their spellings. In this book, and for all practical purposes, this letter should be treated as
just another way to spell // ah. However, British and Australian readers should keep the
original pronunciation of this letter in mind.6
Table 7 gives examples of English words that are pronounced differently in
England and America. Each word is given in traditional orthography, IPA, the practical
system and the Deseret Alphabet as used in the publication of the Book of Mormon. The
table makes clear how important the distinction between // and /'/ is for British English
and how unnecessary it is for Standard American English.

Table 7: Words which differ between England and America in pronunciation

Traditional
Orthography

orphan

often

lost

last

off

Deseret
Alphabet

$rf`n

*fn

l*st

last

*f

Standard
American

/f%n/
awrfuhn
/f%n/
awrfuhn

/f%n/
awfuhn
/f%n/
ahfuhn

/lst/
lawst
/lst/
lahst

/lst/
last
/lst/
last

/f/
awf
/f/
ahf

Western
American
(Canadian)
British
English

/f%n/
awfuhn

/'f%n/
ofuhn

/l'st/
lost

29

/lst/
lahst

/'f/
of

2.2.4 Distinction between // and //

Astute readers will have already noticed another unexpected feature of the Deseret
Alphabet, namely, it does not have a symbol for the vowel /%/ uh as in sofa. This vowel,
often called the schwa or reduced vowel, is the commonest vowel sound in the English
language. It is, at the same time, one of the most problematic ones. It is possible that the
creators of the Deseret Alphabet left out a /%/ uh symbol through mistake or
misjudgment. It is also possible that they avoided creating a symbol for the unreduced
vowel in order to avoid deciding when it was present and when it was not. Many words
with a schwa in normal speech have a fuller vowel in careful pronunciation. One can
pronounce the word pronounce as /p%na"ns/ pruhnouns or as /pona"ns/ prohnouns.
Which pronunciation is more correct? The first (with a schwa) is more natural but the
second is perfectly acceptable in a formal setting (and writing is necessarily formal). The
problem with the reduced vowel extends beyond matters of formality. The schwa is yet
another vowel that is different things to different people based upon their dialect of
English. In most of the United States (especially the West), the sound of a schwa in the
word sofa /sof%/ sohfuh is identical to the sound of the vowel /$/ u in the word fun /f$n/
fun. This causes considerable confusion for Americans trying to understand Deseret
spellings. The same speakers who merge /$/ u and /%/ uh have an additional
pronunciation peculiarity. For these speakers, the phoneme /%/ uh has two allophones
(variant realizations of what is, underlyingly, a single sound): /%/ uh at the beginning and
end of a syllable and // ih in a closed syllable (one that begins and ends with
consonants). (Phonetically this second sound is really more like the high central

30

unrounded vowel [(]; however, native speakers are more likely to analyze it as // ih when
sounding words out.) The concept of phonemes and allophones is too complicated for this
book. Suffice it say that the reduced vowel, at least for most Americans, is a difficult
vowel to pin down.
In Britain, Australia, New Zealand and some parts of America the sound of schwa
in a word like sofa and the sound of the vowel in a word like but are very different. In
northern England the /$/ u sound in but sounds more like the /"/ OO of American English
book. In Southern England the sound of /$/ u in but sounds more like a Chicago
pronunciation of not. For these reasons, the choice of the symbol /$/ is somewhat
arbitrary. British linguists favor the symbol /)/ for this sound because it reflects Southern
British English more accurately. This book uses /$/ because it is a more appropriate
placeholder for a World English sound. The Deseret Alphabet uses the symbol expressly for /$/ u and not for /%/ uh (the minor exceptions to this rule will be discussed
later). It is important that Americans do not attempt to use - for schwa. Table 8 displays
a sample of words with schwa or /$/ u and their spellings in the Deseret Alphabet
together with variant regional pronunciations.7

Table 8: Examples of // and // and their realizations in different accents
Traditional
Orthography
Deseret
Alphabet
Standard
American
Western
American
British

buck

above

idea

Jesus

loveable

b-k

&b-v

[dia

Jiz-s

l-vab`l

/b$k/

/%b$v/

/aidi%/

/d iz%s/

/l$v%b%l/

/b%k/

/%b%v/

/aidi%/

/d izs/

/l%vb%l/

/b)k/

/%b)v/

/aidi%/

/d iz%s/

/l)v%b%l/

31

2.2.5 Deseret Representation of //

How then does the Deseret Alphabet handle /%/ uh? It would be untrue to say that there is
an official method of spelling the sound. However, a careful analysis of the preferences
shown by those who transcribed the Book of Mormon into Deseret characters reveals a
method to the madness. In general, if schwa occurs word finally it is written with the
letter a (which is otherwise to be sounded as // ah). This poses no problem for reading
because there are no polysyllabic words which end in // ah in the dialect represented. If
the schwa is word initial, it is written with the so-called short vowel which most closely
approximates a hypothetical unreduced form. For example, about /%ba"t/ uhbout is
written as &b]t with the letter & being chosen because the schwa here was presumably
considered to be a blurred // a. Most common English words with an initial schwa begin
with a written a so most instances of initial schwa in Deseret are written with &. A word
like enough /%n$f/ uhnuf, however, would never be written with an initial &. In such a
case, the spelling would likely be with i and reflect the much more formal /in$f/ eenuf.
Some scholars have assumed that these spelling quirks reflect the Deseret Alphabets
reliance on traditional English orthography to come up with spellings for schwa.8 This is
not entirely true. It is true in as much as traditional English orthography had a huge
impact on the Deseret Alphabets creators and their perception of what might be the fuller
form of a reduced vowel. Nevertheless, the reduced vowel is not uniformly represented
by symbols corresponding to traditional English orthography. When schwa occurs word
internally, as in words like patience /pei%ns/ peyshuhns or Mormon /mm%n/
mawrmuhn, the sound is usually represented by the letter ` or -. In general, the letter 32

is only used for /%/ uh word internally in an unstressed syllable which ends in /m/ m or /n/
n. The letter ` is used in the same environment as well, but more commonly it is used to
symbolize schwa before other consonants and especially before // r. Exercise 4 offers
more practice.
Exercise 4: Reading and Writing //
This exercise uses Deseret spellings of proper names from The Book of Mormon and
LDS history. Focus on reading the names in Deseret. Remember, the schwa does not
have its own letter.
Transcribe the following names from Deseret letters to traditional spellings.
1. Jiz-s

___________

2. ^lma

__________

3. Moron[

___________

4. M$rm-n

__________

5. Joz`f

___________

6. I;`r

__________

Write out the following names, which are written in the IPA or practical system, using
Deseret letters.
1. /i
%/

__________

2. almuh

__________

3. muhrohnie

__________

4. /d iz%s/

__________

5. /d oz%f/

__________

6. /no%/

__________

2.2.6 Rhotic and Non-Rhotic English

Another complexity of Deseret spelling needs explanation. The sound // r is pronounced
differently after vowels than before vowels. In most of England and many parts of
America, the sound is completely lost after a vowel. In most of America, Ireland and

33

Scotland, the // r remains after a vowel though it might differ in quality. Linguists term
those accents of English which keep postvocalic (after-vowel) // r as rhotic and those
which do not as non-rhotic. The Deseret Alphabet designers probably spoke a non-rhotic
accent; however, the style of speech they chose to represent preserves all postvocalic // r
sounds. In doing so, they created a sort of speech compromise. Their chosen standard
kept // r in all positions yet used the vowels of a typical non-rhotic accent with one
exception. Those vowels which derive from the loss of postvocalic r were almost entirely
ignored. In most of England and many parts of America, new vowel sounds were created
in those positions where r was lost. Table 9 gives examples of the new vowel sounds
created in Southern British English after the loss of postvocalic r.

Table 9: New vowels created in British English after loss of postvocalic r

Example Words

Southern British
English

fear

fair*

poor

fur

/fi'/

/fe'/

/p'/

/f/

*In the speech of most young English people only the vowels in fear and fur are still pronounced as shown in this table. The vowel in
fair is now generally // and the vowel in poor has merged with //.

2.2.7 British // and American //

In most of America, the // r sound changed to become a vowel sound itself. This is hard
to explain and understand so do not expect to grasp it completely on the first try. Think
about the fact that no foreign language has an r sound like American English. The
Spanish roll their r with the tip of the tongue, the Germans and French roll it with the
back of the tongue. Even the Scots tap or roll their r with the tip of the tongue. In
American English, there is no contact whatsoever between the tongue and the roof of the
mouth during the production of the // r sound. This is why the IPA symbol is // and not
34

/r/. Like all vowels, American // r is produced by modifying the shape of the vocal tract
with the tongue and lips without constricting the escaping air. Consider the words her, fur
and fir. If one looks only at the traditional spellings, it appears that each of these words is
made of three sounds: an initial consonant, a medial vowel and a final consonant.
Actually, each of these words begins with one consonant and ends with only one vowel
sound. Say each word aloud and try to separate a vowel sound from the // r sound. It
should be quite impossible for an American English speaker to do such an exercise
because, as has already been said, the only vowel in those words is // r. This sound, in
Standard American English, can be symbolized in the IPA in a number of ways. In this
book we will write this single sound with an IPA digraph /*/ ur. In English non-rhotic
accents the corresponding sound is IPA /*/.9

2.2.8 British // and American //

In American English, this rhotic vowel corresponds not only to British English /*/ but
also to British English /%/ uh. Stressed rhotic vowels in American English correspond to
the vowel /*/ uh in British English and unstressed ones correspond to /%/ uh. Thus a word
like learner has two different vowels in British English and can be written in the IPA as
/l*n%/.10 For British speakers, the difference between these two vowels is one of quality
and stress whereas for Americans the difference is only one of stress. Though there is no
real difference in quality for most (if not all) American English speakers, the unstressed
rhotic vowel will be written with the IPA digraph /%/ uhr to better symbolize its Deseret
representation. The Deseret Alphabet symbolizes the stressed /*/ ur vowel with the
35

combination -r and the unstressed /%/ uhr with the combination `r. Table 10 gives
examples of the rhotic vowel and its representation in Deseret. (In England and some
parts of America there is a difference between the vowel sounds in the words hurry and
furry. This difference is ignored in the Deseret Alphabet spellings for good reason.
Words like hurry keep a vowel separate from the following r whereas words like furry
are formed by adding a suffix to word which already had a rhotic vowel. No two words
are distinguished solely by this difference.)

Table 10: Examples of // and // and their realizations in different accents
Traditional
Orthography
Deseret
Alphabet
This Books
Standard
General
American
British
English

burn

burner

stir

stirrer

terminator

b-rn

b-rn`r

st-r

st-r`r

t-rm@net`r

/b*n/

/b*n%/

/st*/

/st*%/

/t*mneit%/

/bn/

/bn/

/st/

/st/

/tmneit/

/b*n/

/b*n%/

/st*/

/st*%/

/t*mneit%/

2.2.9 Distinguishing // // and /ei/ before //

The creators of the Deseret Alphabet also contrasted the vowels // // and /e/ before //.11
These contrasts are still found in Great Britain, parts of the South and Northeast.
Westerners do not have this contrast, though they might be aware of it from exposure to
newscasters. Table 11 gives examples of words with these contrasting sounds.

36

Table 11: Examples of // // and /e/ before //

Traditional
Harry
hairy
very
Orthography
Deseret
Alphabet
Standard
American
Western
American

fairy

Sarah

H&r@

her@

v`r@

fer@

Sera

/h/

/hei/

/v/

/fei/

/sei%/

/hi/

/hi/

/vi/

/fi/

/s%/

2.2.10 Distinguishing /ju/ and /u/ after Coronal Consonants

Finally, before moving on to more intense practice with the Deseret Alphabet, there is
one more major dialectal difference that must be discussed. Most Americans pronounce
the letters u and ew as /ju/ yoo after consonants that do not involve the tip of the tongue
(coronal consonants). Thus, the words few, cute, muse, hew and puke are always
pronounced as /fju/ fyoo, /kjut/ kyoot, /mjuz/ myooz, /hju/ hyoo and /pjuk/ pyook by most
Americans whereas the words tune, dew, sue, crew, lewd and new, though spelled with
the same vowels, are not pronounced as /ju/ yoo but as /u/ oo.12 In the nineteenth century,
when the Deseret Alphabet was created, the speech standard included a distinction
between words like dew and do. To an extent, the official pronunciation of American
newscasters and most British speakers still maintains this contrast. However, at the time
the Deseret Alphabet was being used such contrasts extended to more environments than
they do in any standard. For example, today an Englishman might chide an American for
pronouncing toon and tune both as /tun/ toon rather than as /tun/ toon and /tjun/ tyoon as
is the standard in England. However, few Englishmen today would pronounce Jew as
/d ju/ jyoo or blue as /blju/ blyoo as was standard in the nineteenth century. In the
Deseret Alphabet, the digraph @u was used to represent this /ju/ yoo sound. The classic

37

Deseret spellings include this distinction. Table 12 gives more examples of such
pronunciation differences.

Table 12: Examples of /ju/ after coronal consonants

Traditional
Orthography
Deseret
Alphabet
This Books
Standard
General
American
British
English

dew

new

Luke

sue

screw

d@u

n@u

L@uk

s@u

skr@u

/dju/

/nju/

/luk/

/su/

/sku/

/du/

/nu/

/luk/

/su/

/sku/

/dju/

/nju/

/luk/ ~ /ljuk/

/su/ ~ /sju/

/sku/

2.2.11 Distinguishing /
/ and /o/ before //

Nineteenth century English, and the English of a minority of Southern speakers, contrasts
words like for, morning, bored from four, mourning and board. Though this contrast is
no longer common in modern English dialects, it is rigorously maintained in the
nineteenth century Deseret spellings. Maintaining this contrast is actually quite useful in
Deseret spellings as it keeps words like for and four from being spelled the same. Table
13 gives some examples of words with this contrast.13

Table 13: Examples of /
/ and /o/ before //

Traditional
Orthography
Deseret
Alphabet
This Books
Standard
General
American
British
English

four

for

morning

mourning

more

for

f$r

m$rn@>

morn@>

mor

/fo/

/f/

/mn/

/mon/

/mo/

/fo/

/fo/

/mon/

/mon/

/mo/

/f/

/f/

/mn/

/mn/

/m/

38

CHAPTER 3
Deseret Alphabet Workbook
3.1 About this Chapter
This chapter is not explanatory like the previous two; rather, it is based on a workbook
which was used in a student-initiated linguistics class at the University of California at
Berkeley in the spring of 2004.1 A number of students, none of whom were LDS, learned
to read and write the Deseret Alphabet in less than two months with the workbook as
their principal guide.2 This version of the workbook incorporates more material into each
page and is truer to the 1869 spellings.

3.1.1 Using this Workbook

Every page of this internal workbook introduces a small number of Deseret consonants
and vowels, gives examples and provides a number of words spelled out in the Deseret
letters which the student must rewrite into traditional English orthography. The Deseret
letters have their names written out in IPA next to them. Each page builds upon the
preceding page. Thus, once a student reaches the third page it is assumed that that student
has mastered the material of the previous two pages. Work carefully through each page
and do not proceed to the next until all the material is fully mastered.
Once this chapter is completed, it should be quite easy to read the Deseret Alphabet Book
of Mormon and other publications. However, this workbook does not teach one to write
competently in the Deseret Alphabet (that is reserved for another chapter).

39

3.2 Deseret Alphabet Exercises

If skipping chapter 2, focus on the example words given for each set of letters.
Remember, unless otherwise noted, each Deseret letter represents only one sound.

3.2.1 k, t, p, @ and *

K /kei/ as in kick

T /ti/ as in tot

// as in hot (British /'/)

// as in it

P /pi/ as in pipe

Examples
k@t

k@k

t@p

t*p

p*t

k*p

kit

kick

tip

top

pot

cop

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks.
p*t

______

p*p

______

t*t

______

k*t

______

k*p

______

k*k

______

p*k

______

p*p

______

*pt

______

t@k

______

k@t

______

p@t

______

k@k

______

@t

______

p@k

______

p@kt

______

Notes
The letters t and p look very similar. A useful mnemonic aid to distinguishing them is p
is pointed and t is turned. The vowel *, as was mentioned in the previous chapter, is not
a sound of American English.

40

3.2.2 g, d, b, i and $

/
ei/ as in go

/di/ as in do

/i/ as in see

// as in saw

/bi/ as in bee

Examples
did

bid

bit

k$t

t$k

t$t

deed

bead

beet

caught

talk

taught

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks
bid

______

b@d

______

did

______

d@d

______

$t

______

dip

______

pik

______

b$t

______

k$t

______

t$k

______

p*d

______

d*t

______

t$t

______

p$

______

*d

______

k*d

______

d*k

______

d@g

______

b@g

______

G*d

______

Notes
The letters g, d, b are the voiced counterparts of k, t, p. Say bagger and packer aloud.
The b and gg in bagger are produced in the same part of the mouth as the p and ck of
packer. The only difference between them is that the vocal folds are drawn together and
vibrating for b and g. The letters k and g look the same except for a little hook in g (the
voiced one). Words like cot and caught, which would be written k*t and k$t, are
distinguished in the South and Northeast but not the West.
41

3.2.3 >, n, m, ` and u

<

// as in sing

/n/ as in nine

// as in red

/u/ as in food

/m/ as in my

Examples
k@>

k@n

d@m

d`n

kut

mun

king

kin

dim

den

coot

moon

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks.
k`g

______

d`k

______

b`d

______

b`t

______

d`t

______

but

______

d@>

______

k@>

______

dum

______

mud

______

m`n

______

min

______

n@k

______

p$n

______

m*p

______

g$>

______

Notes
The letter > represents a single sound which is written in traditional orthography with the
digraph ng. These two letters do not represent two sounds as some pedantic speakers
often think. This sound, found in words like sing or wrong, is a voiced velar nasal and
bears the same relationship to k and g as n does to t and d. The sounds k, g and ng are
made with the body of the tongue pressed against the palate and only differ in that k is
voiceless, g is voiced and ng is voiced with the air escaping through the nose. The same
is true of t, d and n but with the tip of the tongue touching behind the teeth.

42

3.2.4 c, s, ;, f, e and =

/ti/ as in church

/s/ as in sit

/ei/ as in faith

/"/ as in put

/
/ as in thigh

/f/ as in five

Examples
;@k

f@f;

p=t

s$s

cip

ces

thick

fifth

put

sauce

cheap

chase

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks
f=t

______

t=k

______

bu;

______

;@n

______

;@>

______

k@s

______

c`st

______

fes

______

fe;

______

f`c

______

m@;

______

;if

______

fud

______

sem

______

S`;

______

k=k

______

Notes
The letter c stands for a single sound, not a combination of sounds. The letter ; also
represents a single sound, called a voiceless interdental fricative, which is found in words
like think and breath and is different from the th sound in words like thy or breathe.

43

3.2.5 j, z, \, v, & and o

/d i/ as in judge

/zi/ as in zoos

// as in ax

/o/ as in oat

/i/ as in breathe

/vi/ as in very

Examples
\oz

zu

jed

v&t

\&t

vot

those

zoo

jade

vat

that

vote

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks.
j*b

______

b@nj

______

jok

______

zu

______

z&p

______

bu\z

______

v&t

______

gev

______

\&t

______

pej

______

ves

______

si\

______

\iz

______

go

______

\o

______

bo;

______

kov

______

b&j

______

j&z

______

;&c

______

Notes
The letters j, z, \ and v are the voiced counterparts of c, s, ; and f. It is important to
understand the difference between \ and ;. The letter \ only stands for the voiced
interdental fricative found in words like thy, the, that, brother, either, breathe and seethe.
The letter ; only stands for the voiceless interdental fricative found in words like thigh,
thought, author, ether, breath and sloth. The easiest way to learn to distinguish these
sounds is to say thy thigh (\[ ;[ in Deseret) a few times.
44

3.2.6 l, q, h, - and [

/l/ as in lull

// as in ship

/$/ as in up

/ai/ as in ice

/h/ as in help

Examples
q@p

fl-q

h-l

l[

h&q

l-q

ship

flush

hull

lie

hash

lush

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks.
h&d

______

f@q

______

q*k

______

qon

______

h*g

______

l@ps

______

l`>;

______

flot

______

h=d

______

p=q

______

p=l

______

f[t

______

l[t

______

q&l

______

s-n

______

t-n

______

fl[

______

t[\

______

bl[\

______

l[\

______

lo\

______

l-v

______

;-g

______

qi;

______

Notes
The letter q stands for a single sound not a combination of two sounds. The letter h might
have had the name /heit/. In the original readers, h was glossed simply as h. Some
Britons pronounce h as /heit/ and the creators of the Deseret Alphabet were careful to
give each letter a name that included the sound it represented. It is unlikely that h would
be named /eit/ and more likely it was named /heit/ or another unknown name.
45

3.2.7 y, x, r, w, a and ]

/ji/ as in you

/ i/ as in vision

// as in father

/a"/ as in out

/*/ as in run

/wu/ as in we

Examples
far

bex

yu;

\]

yard

wej

far

beige

youth

thou

yard

wage

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks.
ri;

______

har;

______

rux

______

k]

______

f$r

______

w@c

______

dr]t

______

kro

______

]r

______

p]r

______

hart

______

art

______

w$r

______

w]nd

______

wund

______

w$k

______

Notes
The letter a will cause the Western American student quite a bit of trouble in reading
nineteenth century publications. Because the dialect represented in those publications is a
New England/Southern England compromise, the letter a is only used before r and in
positions where American English would use & like in past and last for past and last. In
fact, the word father is the only word with a not before r which is actually pronounced as
a by Americans.

46

3.2.8 Digraphs hw, -r, `r, *@ and @u

HW

/hw/ as in white

_R

/#

/i/ as in boy

#U

/*/ as in burner

~R

/%/ as in burner

/ju/ as in few

Examples
hw[t

l-rn`r

t*@

k@ut

w-r\@

b@g`r

white

learner

toy

cute

worthy

bigger

Figure out the following words and write them in the blanks.
l`t`r ______

hw[l

______

hw@c

______

hwil

k*@l

______

t-rn`r ______

w-r;

______

w-r\@ ______

b*@

______

t@un

______

f@u

______

d@un

n@u

______

J@u

______

b-r;

______

hwer ______

______

______

Notes
The digraph `r only represents /%/ in unstressed syllables otherwise it represents // as
in very /v/. The digraph -r represents both /*/ and /$/ as in furry and hurry (as
pronounced by the British and some Americans). The digraph @u only represents /ju/ after
a consonant. Thus you is yu but hew is h@u. (The spelling y@un@v`rs@t@ is, however, seen
for university.)

47

3.3 Book of Mormon Reading Exercise

What follows is an excerpt from the 1869 Deseret Book of Mormon, Ether 1:6. Though
this is only one verse, the student should find it quite challenging and rewarding.
Actually, Ether 1:6 in the 1869 Deseret Book of Mormon corresponds to Ether 2:18-25!
The original versification, wording and spelling of the 1869 edition are preserved in this
excerpt. Modern verse correspondences are provided in brackets, as are corrections.
Remember, many words will not be spelled the way an American (particularly from the
West) of today would pronounce them.3

I;`r 1:6
[2:18] ^nd @t kem tu pas \&t \ br-\`r *v Jer`d kr[d -ntu \ L$rd, se@>, O L$rd {
h&v p`rf$rmd \ w-rk hw@c \] h&st k-m&nd`d mi, &nd { h&v med \ barj`z &k$rd@> &z
\] h&st d@r`kt`d mi. [19] ^nd bihold, O L$rd, @n \`m \er @z no l[t, hw@\`r q&l wi
stir? ^nd $lso wi q&l p`r@q, f$r @n \`m wi k&n*t bri\, sev @t @z \ er hw@c @z @n
\`m; \erfor wi q&l p`r@q. [20] ^nd \ L$rd s`d -ntu \ br-\`r *v Jer`d, bihold, \]
q&lt mek a hol @n \ t*p \er*v, &nd $lso @n \ b*t-m \er*v [modern editions do not
have thereof]; &nd hw`n \] q&lt s-f`r f$r er, \] q&lt -nst*p \ hol \er*v [modern
editions do not have thereof], &nd risiv er. ^nd @f @t so b [modern editions have And
if it be so] \&t \ w$t`r k-m @n -p*n \, bihold y q&l st*p \ hol \er*v [modern
editions do not have thereof], \&t y me n*t p`r@q @n \ fl-d. [21] ^nd @t kem tu pas
\&t \ br-\`r *v Jer`d d@d so, &k$rd@> &z \ L$rd h&d k-m&nd`d. [22] ^nd hi kr[d
&g`n -ntu \ L$rd, se@>, O L$rd, bihold { h&v d-n ivn &z \] h&st k-m&nd`d mi; &nd

48

{ h&v priperd \ v`s`lz f$r m[ pipl, &nd bihold \er @z no l[t @n \`m. Bihold, O
L$rd, w@lt \] s-f`r \&t wi q&l kr*s \@s gret w$t`r @n darkn`s? [23] ^nd \ L$rd
s`d -ntu \ br-\`r *v Jer`d, hw*t w@l y \&t { q=d du \&t y me h&v l[t @n yur
v`s`lz? F$r bihold, y k&n*t h&v w@ndoz, f$r \e w@l b deqt [spelling error, should
be spelled d&qt] @n pis`z; ni\`r q&l y tek f[r w@\ yu, f$r y q&l n*t go b[ \ l[t
*v f[r; [24] f$r bihold, y q&l b &z a hwel @n \ m@dst *v \ si; f$r \ m]nt@n wevz
q&l d&q -p*n yu. N`v`r\il`s, { w@l br@> yu -p &g`n ]t *v \ d`p;s *v \ si; f$r \
w@ndz h&v g$n for; ]t *v m[ m];, &nd $lso \ renz &nd \ fl-dz h&v { s`nt for;.
[25] ^nd bihold, { priper yu &g`nst \iz ;@>z; f$r h[bit [probably meant to be
h]bi@t howbeit, not found in modern editions of the Book of Mormon], y k&n*t kr*s
\@s gret dip, sev { priper yu &g`nst \ wevz *v \ si, &nd \ w@ndz hw@c h&v g$n
for;, &nd \ fl-dz hw@c q&l k-m. |erfor hw*t w@l y \&t { q=d priper f$r yu \&t y
me h&v l[t hw`n y ar sw*lod -p @n \ d`p;s *v \ si?

49

50

CHAPTER 4
Archaic and Alternate Deseret Characters
4.1 Early Forms of Deseret Letters
The first versions of the Deseret Alphabet did not have all the same letter shapes as the
version used in the 1860s. Originally, the so-called short vowels were to be smaller than
the long vowels and other letters.1 Many of the consonants had slightly different shapes
than they would in the printed type of the 1860s. These early versions of the Deseret
Alphabet were more conducive to cursive writing than later ones.2 These early variants,
with the exception of the variant for e used in the Deseret News, were not used in print,
but were exclusively handwritten. Table 14 lists early variants together with their
equivalents in the final font of the late 1860s.
Table 14: Early Deseret letters with equivalents

51

4.1.1 Symbol for //

Though the final printed version of the Deseret Alphabet did not have a single character
for /%/, some handwritten manuscripts employed a separate symbol for the sound.3 This
character, I, has the same shape as the older form of n. Table 15 lists two possible
spellings of the same word, one in the 1869 standard and one with the alternate character
for /%/.

Table 15: Alternate spelling with // together with standard spelling
alternate spelling

pr*bIbl@

standard spelling

pr*b&bl@

traditional orthography

probably

4.2 Cursive Deseret Script

Some early handwritten documents show a cursive hand. Such documents are nearly
illegible and cannot be dealt with satisfactorily in this book. However, there are some tips
which can aid in decoding such writing. The principle of syllabic readings for consonants
is often taken to extremes. Thus, a word might seem to be lacking vowels when in fact
the reader is expected to supply the vowel found in the consonants name. Also, the
letters @ ` & * - =, the so-called short vowels, are written smaller and deformed to join
strokes between consonants (if they are written at all). Some letters are written as
descenders, p for example, and many others have the older shapes listed in Table 14.4

52

CHAPTER 5
The Modern Deseret Alphabet
5.1 Revival of Deseret Alphabet
This book is part of an uncoordinated, but very real, revival of interest in the Deseret
Alphabet. In recent years, a number of individuals have studied Deseret Alphabet
documents and there has been some limited use of the script in a modern setting.1 Sadly,
few people understand the script well and perhaps no one views it as a viable script for
English.
This chapter is based on two positive experiences that, I think, counter negative
feelings toward the Deseret script and offer a glimpse at its potential. The first involved
teaching college students, none of whom was LDS, the Deseret Alphabet in a school
setting. The second experience took place within the context of my own family.
In the spring of 2004, I facilitated a student-run linguistics class at the University
of California at Berkeley. The class, titled Alternate English Orthographies, had the
Deseret Alphabet as the principal focus of study. In less than two months, the majority of
the students were able to read and write in the script. Students were asked to learn the
1869 spelling standard only. Though the students had little trouble reading the old
spellings, I found that their own spellings tended to be different from the 1869 standard
but unusually similar to each others.
Keeping this experience in mind, I helped my wife to learn the script. She also
learned to read and write in about two months and her spellings were nearly identical to
those of the Berkeley students. Whereas I had drilled the students in a classroom setting,
my wife largely learned through reading and writing little notes with the aid of a key.

53

I have drawn upon the natural spelling trends of the students and my wife to
create the spelling standard taught in this chapter. Rather than being an attempt to force a
way of spelling upon those interested in the Deseret Alphabet, the spelling guidelines
given hereafter offer a standard for future literary use and an easy way for personal
writing to remain true to the scripts original character. In a way, the Deseret Alphabet
came back to life when the students in that Berkeley class wrote brief stories about their
families in the script. The revival has truly begun.

5.1.1 Objectives
This venerable script has endless potential. I imagine novels, childrens books, poetry,
newspapers, plaques, calligraphy, personal correspondence and monuments in the
Deseret Alphabet. All are possible. First, however, it is necessary to create a community
of interested people capable of creating and enjoying Deseret Alphabet texts. Spreading
interest and knowledge of the script must be the principal objective.

5.1.2 How to Use this Chapter

This chapter has been written for two kinds of readers. Those readers who have read and
understood all previous chapters will find the explanations and drills that follow quite
easy. Readers who have read only the first chapter, thereby skipping the descriptions of
the nineteenth-century Deseret Alphabet spellings, must focus a little harder on the
examples and explanations that follow. If the reader has not mastered the IPA, those
strange symbols enclosed in //, he should ignore them and focus on the examples in the
drills.

54

5.2 Structure of the Modern Deseret Alphabet

For historical continuity, all thirty-eight letters of the original have been kept in their
canonical ordering. Table 16 lists all individual letters in order followed by the digraphs
(two letter combinations).

Table 16: Modern Deseret Alphabet

The 38 modern letters in order from left to right and top to bottom

I
%
#
/
{
Y
B
C
G
:
Z
R
N

ee

feed

aw

fawn

ih

fit

fond

ie

fly

yee

you

bee

bike

chee

chew

gai

gar

ehth

thigh

zee

zip

ur

rare

ehn

night

E
O
~
_
}
H
T
J
F
|
Q
L
<

ai

faith

oh

foal

eh

fed

fun

ou

fowl

help

tee

tip

jee

Jew

ehf

fat

dhee

thy

ehsh

Confucian

ehl

law

ehng

singer

ur

burner

A
U
^
+
W
P
D
K
V
S
X
M

ah

far

oo

fool

fat

OO

foot

woo

went

pee

pike

dee

dip

kai

car

vee

vat

ehs

sip

zhee

confusion

ehm

Mormon

yoo

few

The modern digraphs

%#
HW

oi

boy

hw

why

_R

55

#U

5.2.1 The Letter * in the Modern Deseret Alphabet

The letter * is retained in the canonical ordering but is not utilized in any of the new
spellings. In most cases, * is replaced by a. The justification for dropping this letter is
two-fold. As discussed in chapter 4, throughout the history of the Deseret Alphabet there
have been letters dropped and created to suit the time. The letter * stood for a sound
which is specifically British and only needs to be distinguished if the sound // is not
sounded after vowels. Americans, together with Irish, Scottish, and Canadian speakers
generally preserve // in all positions. Thus, it is unnecessary to maintain the letter in
spellings. (Section 2.2.2 gives a more complete explanation of the sound originally
represented by *.)

5.2.2 The Names of the Letters

As discussed in section 2.2.1, each Deseret letter has a monosyllabic name which may
double as its full sound value in rare cases. In the modern spellings, this feature is
continued. The only change being that the letter h, whose original name has not survived,
now has the name /h/.

5.2.3 The Modern Deseret Alphabet Representation of /
i/

The diphthong *@, which represented the sound oi as in boil has been replaced by $@ to
avoid the letter * and to be truer to actual pronunciation.

56

5.2.4 Representation of // in the Modern Deseret Alphabet

As explained in 2.2.4 and 2.2.5, the 1869 spellings lacked a single way to represent the
sound /%/ as in sofa. The modern spellings use only - for all instances. Similarly, the
sounds /%/ and /*/ are both now spelled -r.

5.2.5 The Digraph hw

Most young speakers of American English no longer distinguish words like whale/wail or
where/wear. For those who do, or those who would like to in print, the digraph hw has
been retained.

5.2.6 Distinguishing $ and a in Modern Deseret Spellings

Many Americans (and all Canadians) do not distinguish words like cot/caught or
tot/taught in their speech. If one does not distinguish these sounds, by which is meant that
the aforementioned pairs sound exactly the same in ones speech, only the letter a should
be used in personal spellings. This is a difficult point to explain. Table 17 gives examples
of choosing the proper letter.

Table 17: How to Choose $ or a

Do you pronounce cot and caught differently?
Yes
No




Use $ for the sound in caught.
Use a for the sound in both.
Use a for the sound in cot.

57

5.3 The Exercises

Each exercise should be done in one day. Plenty of blank space has been left on each
page for additional writing practice or notes.

Exercise 1
Deseret Letter
I
#
T
Q
:

Letter Name
ee
ih
tee
ehsh
ehth

Sound
ee as in feet
ih as in fit
t as in too
sh as in ship
th as in thigh

Read the Following Words

QI

QI:

QIT

#T

TI:

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

TEA

__________

SHE

__________

TEETH

__________

SHEATH

_________

SHEET

__________

IT

__________

EAT

__________

TEAT

__________

58

Examples
qit sheet
@t it
ti tea
qi she
ti; teeth

Exercise 2
Deseret Letter
E
~
B
X
|
R

Letter Name
ai
eh
bee
zhee
dhee
ur

Sound
ai as in faith
eh as in fed
b as in boot
zh as in beige
dh as in thy
r as in run

Read the Following Words

QI

QI:

RI|

#T

TI:

|ER

BEX
BET

RI:

QER

QIT

|E

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

BET

__________

SHE

__________

TEETH

__________

SHEATH

__________

THEY

__________

BREATHE

__________

BEIGE

__________

TREAT

__________

59

Examples
bex beige
br`; breath
bi bee
bex beige
bri\ breathe
ri; wreath

Exercise 3
Deseret Letter
A
^
D
P
N

Letter Name
ah
a
dee
pee
ehn

Sound
ah as in far
a as in fat
d as in do
p as in pike
n as in night

Read the Following Words

P#N

QARP

D~ :

T#N

T~N:

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

ART

__________

SHEEP

__________

TENTH

__________

SHEATHE

_________

DASH

__________

DRAPE

__________

DEN

__________

PIN

__________

60

Examples
tarp tarp
\&t that
d@q dish
qip sheep
;@n thin

Exercise 4
Deseret Letter
%
/*
C
S
L
M

Letter Name
aw
o
chee
ehs
ehl
ehm

Sound
aw as in fall
o as in fond
ch as in choose
s as in base
l as in like
m as in month

*This letter is obsolete and will not be used further. It should be replaced by A.

Read the Following Words

Q%L

CIT

:^C

BES

RIL

T%L

SLE

MEL

B%T

SI|

QEM

MIT

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

AWL

__________

CHASE

__________

LATCH

__________

MATCH

__________

LAW

__________

TEETHE

__________

BEIGE

__________

TEETH

__________

61

Examples
b$l ball
t*p top
cip cheap
st@c stitch
le\ lathe
m&q mash

Exercise 5
Deseret Letter
O
_
J
K
<
}

Letter Name
oh
uh
jee
kai
ehng
ou

Sound
oh as in foam
uh as in fun
j as in job
k as in kick
ng as in singer
ou as in out

Read the Following Words

J_MP

QO

L%<

K#K

STR~<:

F}L

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

CART

__________

SHORE

__________

STING

__________

THUMP

_________

COW

__________

DREDGE

__________

JUDGE

__________

THING

__________

62

Examples
tod toad
q-t shut
b&j badge
kip keep
;@> thing
\] thou

Exercise 6
Deseret Letter
U
+
{
Z
G
F
V

Letter Name
oo
OO
ie
zee
gai
ehf
vee

Sound
oo as in food
OO as in foot
ie as in sky
z as in zoo
g as in go
f as in fix
v as in vixen

Read the Following Words

QUT

P+T

M}:

B{T

ZIL

VEG

F}L

MUV

B+K

SEV

GEM

FIT

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

FOOD

__________

CHOOSE

__________

LOOK

__________

MIGHT

__________

LAWS

__________

GET

__________

VERY

__________

TOOK

__________

63

Examples
but boot
t=k took
l[ lie
zu zoo
g=d good
f-n fun
v&t vat

Exercise 7
Deseret Letter
W
Y
H

Letter Name
woo
yee
h

Sound
w as in war
y as in you
h as in hold

Read the Following Words

W#N

YARD

H~L:

YU:

HAR:

W%RM:

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

HEART

__________

WEED

__________

YELL

__________

WITH

__________

HASH

__________

DWELL

__________

64

Examples
w@n win
yu; youth
h[ hi

Exercise 8
Deseret Letter*
HW
#U
%#
_R

Sound
hw as in why
yoo as in few
oi as in oil
ur as in burn

Examples
hw[l while
h@u hew
b$@ boy
-r; earth

*These are not letters; rather, they are digraphs (two-letter combinations which stand for a single phoneme)
which must be learned as single units.

Read the Following Words

Q_RT

HWIT

M#UZ#K

F%#L

Write the Following Words in the Deseret Alphabet

EARL

__________

WHALE

__________

PEW

__________

HUGE

__________

LEARN

__________

TOY

__________

WHY

__________

WHIRL

__________

65

Exercise 9
This exercise requires the student to use all the letters he has learned. It is a poem titled
The Summer. Difficult words have been marked and explained. Work slowly through the
poem and read it aloud. The lines have been numbered to mark the order in which they
should be read. The rhyming scheme of the poem is given using numbers and letters. For
example, the numbers and letters 12345A 12345A mean that there are two lines of six
syllables and that both syllables marked A have rhyming vowel sounds.

12345A

12345B

12345B

12345A

12345C
12345D

12345E

12345E

12345D

12345C

66

| S_M_R
1. | s-m-r, hat &nd dr[
2. Blik ka>krit, kr&kt &nd gre
3. {m l$st, k&nt f[nd m[ we
4. Bini; \ s@k-nd sk[
5. { bord \ plen &nd y-rn
6. T-ct d]n -m@d \ grin
8. S-r]nd@d b[ m[ k@n

7. | ;@k er su\d m[ sk@n

9. { dr@ft@d $f tu drim
10. Av p&sts \&t n`v-r w-r

11. Biwer \ W$mp-s K&t*

12. |ed s`d bifor {d l`ft
13. R`d [z &nd f[r f$r br`;
14. B-t fir far mor \&n \&t
15. | bist w@l stil yur m[nd
16. _lon @ns[d \ tr-k
18. P&lm`toz br-qt m[ niz

17. { drov tuw$rd \ triz

19. A r[fl f$r g=d l-k
20. { l`ft \ l[t bih[nd

21. Dark hw@sp-rz $l -r]nd

23. #n q&doz h-rd @t kr[

22. { s$ @t r-q@> b[
24. A sal-m, lons-m s]nd
25. { wand-r @n d@sper

26. { treld @ts sab@> v$@s

28. T@l dip-r @n \ triz

27. :ru w`bz &nd qarp-nd livz

29. { h&d tu mek \ c$@s
30. Tu f[nd @t @n @ts ler

31. ^t w-ns wi bo; lakt [z

33. %l k=r@j @n mi g$n

32. #ts badi l[\ &nd str$>

34. Du nat biliv \ l[z
35. #t s`d w@; tu;i sm[l

36. { st-mbld fram \ w=d

37. Kl[md b&k bih[nd \ hwil
38. Bir`ft** av h-nt-rz zil
39. { l`ft \ bist f$r g=d
40. ^nd y`t, d@sp[t \ m[lz
41. Ic n[t @n drimz { si
42. #ns[d \ S-\-rn qed
43. W@; kl$z l[k qarp-nd bledz
44. ^nd q[n@>, bl-d stend ti;
45. | W$mp-s K&t k$l mi
* Wampus Cat, a mythical creature of the American South. The origin of this term is not definitely known.
The Wampus Cat is often described as some kind of were-cat or monster.
** Bereft

67

Exercise 10

R_G W%L TEBL

CER DOR FLOR
W#NDO M#R_R B~D
PUL GET F~NS
S#<K
L%N
B^:
PORC K}C TIVI
Cut these words out and affix them to the items they describe.

68

Exercise 11
Transcribe the following song into the Deseret Alphabet. Remember, if you do not
contrast the vowels a and $, use only a.
Stockton
Northbound on I-5
I can hardly wait to get home
To my kids and wife
Loading trucks all day long
I can see the ships lights
In the port by the freeway
Id give all that I might
To get on board and get away
But Im stuck in this town
Im trapped in this town
Im stuck in this town
And Im going down
Im going down
Im going down
I wasnt born here
But my mother was
And its where I met my wife
But this place aint for us
The winters full of fog
I keep promising were going to leave
The summers choked with smog
Our little one cant hardly breathe
But were stuck in this town
Were trapped in this town
Were stuck in this town
And Im going down
Im going down
Im going down
Southbound on I-5
Im driving past the warehouse
With my kids and wife
On our way to a new house
I can see the citys lights
Disappearing behind me
I aint never coming back
But part of me will always be
Stuck in this town
Trapped in this town
Stuck in this town
And going down
Going down
Going down

69

70

APPENDIX I
An 1869 Deseret-Roman Spelling Wordlist
A number of the most common words in the 1869 Deseret Alphabet Book of Mormon
were spelled differently than most modern Americans would have spelled them. What
follows is a small list of some of the more prevalent words. Chapter 2 explains the
principles underlying many of these apparent aberrations. However, if a picture is worth a
thousand words, some clear examples should prove to be of similar worth. Every word
from the reading exercise in 3.3 has also been included.

I
ivn
I;`r
i\`r

even
Ether
either

E
er

air

A
a
a
aft`r after
ar
are
%
$t
$r
$l
$lso
O
O
ov`r
or
old
on

#
@t
@f
@z
@n

_
-p
up
-p*n upon
-\`r other
-ntu unto
-nst*p unstop

it
if
is
in

~
`nt`r enter
`nd
end
^
&t

ought
or
all
also

at
&k$rd@> according
&g`n again
&g`nst against
&z
as
&ro
arrow
&nd
and

O
over
ore
old
own

/
*f
*ft
*fn
*v
*n

off
oft
often
of
on
71

{
{
[

I
eye

}
]t
]r

out
our

W
wi
we
wevz waves
w$t`r water
w-rk work
w@\
with
w@l
will
w@lt wilt
w@ndoz windows
w@ndz winds

w*z was
w=dst wouldst
Y
y
yu
yur

ye
you
your

H
hi
he
hol
hole; whole
h&v
have
h&st hast
hwel whale
hw@\`r whither
hw@c which
hw*t what
hw`n when
P
pipl
pis`z
pas
past
p`r@q

people
pieces
pass
past
perish
p`rf$rmd performed
priper prepare
priperd prepared
B
b

be
bihold behold
barj barge
barj`z barges
bo
bow
b*t-m bottom
b=k book
b[
by; bye, buy
bri\ breathe
br@> bring
br-\`r brother
bl&k black

T
tek
t$t
tu
t*p
tru;

take
taught
to; too; two
top
truth

D
dip

deep
darkn`s darkness
du
do
d@d
did
d@r`kt`d directed
d`p;s depths
d&q
dash
d-n
done
C
coz`n
cuz
c*@s
c-rc

chosen
choose
choice
church

J
Jiz-s Jesus
Jer`d Jared
J@u
Jew
K
kem
k@l
k&n*t
k-m

came
kill
cannot
come
k-m&nd`d commanded
kr*s cross
kr[d cried
G
g$n
go
gost
gret

gone
go
ghost
great
72

F
f$r
for
for;
f[r
fl-d
fl-dz

for
-fore
forth
fire
flood
floods

V
v`s`lz vessels
v`r@l@ verily
v-rj@n virgin
:
;@>
;@>k
;@>z
;$t

thing
think
things
thought

|
\
the; thee
\iz
these
\e
they
\er
there; their
\er*v thereof
\erfor therefore
\@s
this
\`m
them
\&t
that
\]
thou
S
si
se@>
sev
so
s`d
s`nt
s-f`r

see; sea
saying
save
so; sew
said
sent
suffer
sw*lod swallowed
stir steer
st*p stop

Z
Z`r@n Zerin
Q
Q`m@q
q&l
q&lt
q=d

Chemish
shall
shalt
should

R
risiv
renz
r[t
r$t

receive
rains
right; rite; write
wrought

L
last
L$rd
l*st
l-v
l[t

last
Lord
lost
love
light

M
mi
me
med
mek
m@dst
m[
m[t
m];
m]nt@n

me
may
made
make
midst
my
might
mouth
mountain

N
ni\`r neither
no
no
n`v`r\il`s nevertheless
n*t
not

73

74

APPENDIX II
Deseret Alphabet Resources
The Deseret Alphabet continues to attract interest among diverse groups of people. The
internet, in particular, has a multitude of sites with a wealth of information on the script.
Not all such sites are wholly accurate and care must be taken in researching anything
with only internet resources. Below I have listed several links which should prove
worthwhile to anyone interested in the contents of this book.
Undoubtedly, the archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
possess the most materials. However, I have not used them and cannot comment on the
ease or difficulty of accessing the Churchs holdings.
http://homepage.mac.com/jhjenkins/
John H. Jenkins home page has a link to his Deseret kit for Mac users.
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/deseret.htm
The textual sample at this site includes many errors. However, the creator is open to
suggestions and has already corrected two errors after being informed.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Deseret_AB
This group is a good place to start if interested in communicating with others who are
interested in the Deseret Alphabet. It also includes links.
http://home.earthlink.net/~sbartok1632/index.htm.
The Huneybee font (utilized throughout this book) is available here for free download. It
is freeware and, to date, the most accessible Deseret Alphabet font.
http://www.geocities.com/knochengerechtigkeit/deseret/index.html
This site contains original material in the Deseret Alphabet (much of it tongue in cheek).
The creator appears to be English and has therefore had little trouble using the letters *, $
and a appropriately.
75

http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2474.pdf
Kenneth Beesley has done a tremendous amount of work on the Deseret Alphabet. This
link, at the time of writing, provides access to a PDF version of his proposal to add two
archaic Deseret characters to Unicode.
http://www.DeseretAlphabet.com
This site has links to almost every important Deseret Alphabet resource as well as
summaries of relevant information. It also has scanned images of the nineteenth century
Deseret readers and is to add more material in the future.

Great libraries are always a good source of information for any subject and this
holds true for the Deseret Alphabet. The Bancroft library of the University of California
at Berkeley is an excellent resource. It houses more than one copy of the rare 1869
Deseret Alphabet Book of Mormon (only 500 published) as well as additional materials.
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
(510) 642-3781 Administration office
(510) 642-7589 Fax
(510) 642-6481 Reference desk
Reference email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
.

76

Key to Exercises
Chapter 2
Exercise 1
1. help
2. cot
7. chip
8. judge
13. to, too, two
18. lick
19. rot
24. thing
25. pack
30. when
Exercise 2
1. hat
7. jab
13. niet
19. dhat
25. mawth
31. leef
37. siht
43. kiet

2. kihk
8. shoot
14. sahk, sok
20. dehth
26. wihch
32. sey
38. meht
44. kou

3. gone
9. shop
14. did
20. wrought
26. bring

4. sing
10. fish
15. nine
21. thigh
27. man

3. gahd , god 4. lawng

9. vihzhuhn 10. too
15. zihp
16. rohp
21. seedh
22. smoodh
27. hwihch
28. fiet
33. fahr
34. saw
39. dhat
40. naht, not
45. koil

Exercise 3
1. Be ye therefore perfect.
3. A gay bird sang to him.
5. I told him she would be late.
7. g
9. a

Chapter 3
pop
cock
tick
it

tot
pock
kit
pick

6. cheap
12. vision
17. zip
23. thy
29. vat

5. yoo
11. doh
17. lohd
23. path
29. ahv, ov
35. soh
41. sun

6. chihp
12. niet
18. thum
24. breedh
30. kawt
36. too
42. bOOk

2. Put down that gun!

4. I tell thee this for thine own good.
6. y
8. \
10. \

Exercise 4
Deseret Alphabet to Traditional Orthography
1. Jesus
2. Alma
3. Moroni
5. Joseph
6. Ether
IPA or Practical System to Traditional Orthography
1. Ether
2. Alma
3. Moroni
5. Joseph
6. Noah

3.2.1
pot
cop
opt
kick

5. use
11. Asian
16. sought
22. breath
28. fall

cot
pop
pit
picked

77

4. Mormon
4. Jesus

3.2.2
bead
ought
caught
taught/taut
dock

bid
deep
talk
paw
dig

deed
peek
pod
odd
big

did
bought
dot
cod
God

3.2.3
keg
debt
doom
nick

deck
boot
mood
pawn

bed
ding
men
mop

bet
king
mean
gong

3.2.4
foot
thing
faith
food

took
kiss
fetch
same

booth
chest
myth
Seth

thin
face
thief
cook

3.2.5
job
zap
that
these
cove

binge
booths
page
go
badge

joke
vat
vase
though
jazz

zoo
gave
seethe
both
thatch

3.2.6
had
hog
hood
light
fly
loathe

fish
lips
push
shall
tithe
love

shock
length
pull
sun/son
blithe
thug

shone/shown
float
fight
ton
lithe
sheath

3.2.7
wreath
for
our
war

hearth
witch
power
wound

rouge
drought
heart
wound

cow
crow
art
walk

3.2.8
letter
coil
boy
new

while
turner
tune
Jew

which
worth
few
birth/berth

wheel
worthy
dune
where

78

3.3
Figure it out! (Look it up in the Book of Mormon)

Chapter 5
Exercise 1
she
ti
ti;
qit
it

sheath
qi
qi;
@t
tit

sheet

it

teeth

Exercise 2
she
it
b`t
ti;
\e

sheath
teeth
qi
qi;
bri\

wreathe
their/there

beige
bait

wreath
they

bex

trit

Exercise 3
pin
art
t`n;
d&q
d`n

sharp
qip
qi\
drep
p@n

death

tin

Exercise 4
shawl
tall
$l
l&c
l$
bex

cheat
sleigh/slay
ces
m&c
ti\
ti;

thatch
mail/male

base

Exercise 5
jump
kart
st@>
k]
j-j

show
qor
;-mp
dr`j
;@>

long

kick

79

share

sheet

tenth

reel/real
bought

shame
seethe

strength

meet/meat

fowl/foul

Exercise 6
shoot
vague
fud
l=k
l$z
v`ri

put
fowl/foul
cuz
m[t
g`t $r g@t
t=k

mouth
move

bite
book

zeal
save

game

Exercise 7
win
hart
y`l
h&q

yard
wid
w@; or w@\
dw`l

health

youth

hearth

warmth

Exercise 8
shirt
-rl
p@u
l-rn
hw[

wheat
hwel
h@uj
t$@
hw-rl

music

foil

Exercise 9
1. The summer, hot and dry
3. Im lost, cant find my way

The Summer

feet

2. Bleak concrete, cracked and gray

4. Beneath the sickened sky
5. I board the plane and yearn
6. Touched down amid the green
7. The thick air soothed my skin
8. Surrounded by my kin
9. I drifted off to dream
10. Of pasts that never were
11. Beward the Wampus Cat
12. Theyd said before Id left
13. Red eyes and fire for breath
14. But fear far more than that
15. The beast will steal your mind
16. Alone inside the truck
17. I drove toward the trees
18. Palmettos brushed my knees
19. A rifle for good luck
20. I left the light behind
21. Dark whispers all around
22. I saw it rushing by
23. In shadows heard it cry
24. A solemn, lonesome sound
25. I wander in despair
26. I trailed its sobbing voice
27. Through webs and sharpened leaves
28. Till deeper in the trees
29. I had to make the choice
30. To find it in its lair
31. At once we both locked eyes
32. Its body lithe and strong
33. All courage in me gone
34. Do not believe the lies
35. It said with toothy smile
36. I stumbled from the wood
37. Climbed back behind the wheel
38. Bereft of hunters zeal
39. I left the beast for good
40. And yet, despite the miles
41. Each night in dreams I see
42. Inside the Southern shade
43. With claws like sharpened blades
44. And shining, blood-stained teeth
45. The Wampus Cat call me

80

Exercise 10
rug
chair
window
pool
lawn
porch

wall
door
mirror
gate
sink
couch

table
floor
bed
fence
bath
T.V.

Exercise 11
N$r;b]nd $n I-5, { k&n hardli wet tu g@t hom
Tu m[ k@dz &nd w[f, Lod@> tr-ks $l de l$>
{ k&n si \ q@ps l[ts, #n \ port b[ \ friwe
{d g@v $l [&t [ m[t, Tu g@t $n bord &nd g@t -we
B-t {m st-k @n \@s t]n, {m tr&pt @n \@s t]n, {m st-k @n \@s t]n
^nd {m go@> d]n, {m go@> d]n, {m go@> d]n
{ waznt b$rn hir, B-t m[ m-\-r waz
^nd @ts hwer { m`t m[ w[f, B-t \@s ples ent f$r -s
| w@nt-rz f=l av f$g, { kip pram@s@> wir go@> tu lib
| s-m-rz cokt w@; sm$g, }r l@tl w-n kent hardli bri\
B-t wir st-k @n \@s t]n, wir tr&pt @n \@s t]n, wir st-k @n \@s t]n
^nd {m go@> d]n, {m go@> d]n, {m go@> d]n
S];b]nd $n I-5, {m dr[v@> p&st \ werh]s
W@; m[ k@dz &nd w[f, %n ]r we tu a n@u h]s
{ k&n si \ s@tiz, D@s-pir@> bih[nd mi
{ ent n`b-r k-m@> b&k, B-t part av mi w@l $lwez b
St-k @n \@s t]n, Tr&pt @n \@s t]n, St-k @n \@s t]n
^nd go@> d]n, Go@> d]n, Go@> d]n
(cant and get have been spelled according to a southern pronunciation style)

81

82

NOTES
Preface
1. Nakanishi, Akira. Writing Systems of the World: Alphabets, Syllabaries, Pictograms.
(English language edition of Sekai no Moji). 4th printing. Singapore. Charles E. Tuttle
Co. 1994.
2. Coulmas, Florian. Mormon Writing. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing
Systems. Blackwell Publishers. 1996.
3. The symbols given in this table, I later learned, were of an earlier version of the
Deseret Alphabet which was never put into print. Many of these symbols bear little
resemblance to those used in the 1860s. The phonetic transcription given alongside the
symbols in the table does not correspond to the IPA or any Americanist system of which I
am aware.
4. Beesley, Kenneth R. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 22nd International Unicode
Conference. San Jose. August 14, 2002.
Chapter 1
1. Hamilton, C. Mark. Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning. New
York: Oxford UP. 1995. 3-8.
2. Hamilton 8-11.
3. Hamilton 14-19.
4. Johnson, Jefferey Ogden. Deseret, State of. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 1992.
5. Monson, Samuel C. Deseret Alphabet. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 1992
6. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 17-31.
7. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 35-37.
83

8. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 30-32.

9. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 37-39.
Chapter 2
1. Kenyon, John S. and Thomas A. Knott. A Pronouncing Dictionary of American
English. Merriam-Webster Inc. 1953. xxxviii.
2.| B=k *v M$rm-n. (The Book of Mormon). trans. Joseph Smith Jr. New York. 1869.
(The Deseret Alphabet edition of the Book of Mormon will hereafter be referred to as
DBOM in the notes.)
3. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 27-28.
4. Kenyon and Knott xix.
5. Kenyon and Knott xli.
6. While on my mission in Northern England (1997-1999), this vowel difference between
British and American standard pronunciations caused confusion on at least two
occasions. First, while shopping I asked a store clerk for floss, which in America is
pronounced as either /fls/ or /fls/, and the clerk thought I had asked for a flask which in
England is pronounced as /flsk/. The second incident happened in a fish and chip shop. I
requested cod, which in America is pronounced /kd/, and the employees of the shop
looked puzzled and explained that they did not sell cards. In England card is pronounced
as /kd/. I finally had to mimic a British accent and ask for /k'd/ (the English
pronunciation of cod) before I was able to get a sensible response.
7. Kenyon and Knott xx.
8. Monson. Deseret Alphabet. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 1992.

84

9. Kenyon and Knott xxi.

10. Kenyon and Knott xl.
11. Kenyon and Knott xxxix.
12. Kenyon and Knott xlii-xliii.
13. Kenyon and Knott xxxix.
Chapter 3
1. The class, titled Alternate English Orthographies, was a student-initiated, student-run
upper division class sponsored by faculty. Students who initiate and conduct such classes
are expressly forbidden from claiming to have taught at UC Berkeley. Ian Maddieson, a
professor in Berkeleys linguistics department and a world-renowned expert on
phonetics, sponsored this particular class.
2. The class had eight students with the following backgrounds (each student has been
assigned an arbitrary number):
Students

Origin

1
2

China
Malaysia

3
4

Japan
California

5
6
7
8

New York
California
California
California

Native
Language(s)
Mandarin
Indonesian
Taiwanese
Cantonese
Mandarin
Japanese
English
Visayan
English
English
English
English

Major

Religion

Ethnicity

Linguistics
Linguistics

Unknown
Unknown

Chinese
Chinese

Undeclared
Psychology
(linguistics
minor)
Unknown
Linguistics
Unknown
Industrial
Engineering

Unknown
Roman
Catholic

Japanese
Filipino

Jewish
Unknown
Jewish ?
Protestant

Chinese/Jewish
White
White
White

3. DBOM 409.

85

Chapter 4
1. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 18-19
2. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 21
3. Beesley, Kenneth R. M.J. Shelton to George A. Smith. unpublished manuscript.
According to Beesley, this variant character was peculiar to Marion Jackson Shelton.
4. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 20-21

Chapter 5
1. Beesley. The Deseret Alphabet in Unicode. 37-40

86